Non-volatile memory cell array having discontinuous source and drain diffusions contacted by continuous bit line conductors and methods of forming

ABSTRACT

Rows of memory cells are electrically isolated from one another by trenches formed in the substrate between the rows that are filled with a dielectric, commonly called “shallow trench isolation” or “STI.” Discontinuous source and drain regions of the cells are connected together by column oriented bit lines, preferably made of doped polysilicon, that extend in the column direction on top of the substrate. This structure is implemented in a flash memory array of cells having either one floating gate per cell or at least two floating gates per cell. A process of making a dual-floating gate memory cell array includes etching the word lines twice along their lengths, once to form openings through which source and drain implants are made and in which the conductive bit lines are formed, and second to form individual floating gates with a select transistor gate positioned between them that also serves to erase charge from the adjacent floating gates.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 10/265,066 of Jack H.Yuan and Jacob Haskell, filed Oct. 3, 2002 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,604,which in turn is a divisional of Ser. No. 09/667,344 of Jack H. Yuan andJacob Haskell, filed Sep. 22, 2000 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,512,263. Thisapplication is also related to patent applications Ser. No. 09/343,328of Eliyahou Harari, Daniel C. Guterman, George Sarnachisa and Jack H.Yuan, filed Jun. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,248, Ser. No.09/343,493 of Eliyahou Harari, Jack H. Yuan and George Samachisa, filedJun. 30, 1999, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,103,573, and Ser. No. 09/370,775 ofRaul-Adrian Cemea and George Samachisa, filed Aug. 9, 1999, now U.S.Pat. No. 6,091,633, each of which is incorporated herein in its entiretyby this reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to flash EEPROM (Electrically Erasableand Programmable Read Only Memory) systems, and, more specifically, tomemory arrays of flash EEPROM cells that individually contain twofloating gates and to systems that utilize them.

There are many commercially successful non-volatile memory is productsbeing used today, particularly in the form of small form factor cards,which use a flash EEPROM array of cells having a “split-channel” betweensource and drain diffusions. The floating gate of the cell is positionedover one portion of the channel and the word line (also referred to as acontrol gate) is positioned over the other channel portion as well as,the floating gate. This effectively forms a cell with two transistors inseries, one (the memory transistor) with a combination of the amount ofcharge on the floating gate and the voltage on the word line controllingthe amount of current that can flow through its portion of the channel,and the other (the select transistor) having the word line alone servingas its gate. The word line extends over a row of floating gates.Examples of such cells, their uses in memory systems and methods ofmanufacturing them are given in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,070,032, 5,095,344,5,315,541, 5,343,063, and 5,661,053, and in co-pending U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 09/239,073, filed Jan. 27, 1999, which patents andapplication are incorporated herein by this reference.

A modification of this split-channel flash EEPROM cell adds a steeringgate positioned between the floating gate and the word line. Eachsteering gate of an array extends over one column of floating gates,perpendicular to the word line. The effect is to relieve the word linefrom having to perform two functions at the same time when reading orprogramming a selected cell. Those two functions are (1) to serve as agate of a select transistor, thus requiring a proper voltage to turn theselect transistor on and off, and (2) to drive the voltage of thefloating gate to a desired level through an electric field (capacitive)coupling between the word line and the floating gate. It is oftendifficult to perform both of these functions in an optimum manner with asingle voltage. With the addition of the steering gate, the word lineneed only perform function (1), while the added steering gate performsfunction (2). The use of steering gates in a flash EEPROM array isdescribed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,313,421 and co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 08/910,947, filed Aug. 7, 1997, which patent andapplication are incorporated herein by this reference.

In either of the two types of memory cell arrays described above, thefloating gate of a cell is programmed by injecting electrons from thesubstrate to the floating gate. This is accomplished by having theproper doping in the channel region and applying the proper voltages tothe source, drain and remaining gate(s). So called “source side”injection is preferred, which is also described in the foregoing U.S.Pat. No. 5,313,421.

Two techniques for removing charge from floating gates to erase memorycells are used in both of the two types of memory cell arrays describedabove. One is to erase to the substrate by applying appropriate voltagesto the source, drain and other gate(s) that cause electrons to tunnelthrough a portion of a dielectric layer between the floating gate andthe substrate. The other erase technique is to transfer electrons fromthe floating gate to another gate through a tunnel dielectric layerpositioned between them. In the first type of cell described above, athird erase gate is provided for that purpose. In the second type ofcell described above, which already has three gates because of the useof a steering gate, the floating gate is erased to the word line,without the necessity to add a fourth gate. Although this latertechnique adds back a second function to be performed by the word line,these functions are performed at different times, thus avoiding thenecessity of making a compromise because of the two functions. Wheneither erase technique is utilized, a large number of memory cells aregrouped together for simultaneously erasure, in a “flash.” In oneapproach, the group includes enough memory cells to store the amount ofuser data stored in a disk sector, namely 512 bytes, plus some overheaddata. In another approach, each group contains enough cells to holdseveral thousand bytes of user data, equal to many disk sector's worthof data. Multi-block erasure, defect management and other flash EEPROMsystem features are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,148, which patentis incorporated herein by this reference.

As in most all integrated circuit applications, the pressure to shrinkthe silicon substrate area required to implement some integrated circuitfunction also exists with flash EEPROM systems. It is continuallydesired to increase the amount of digital data that can be stored in agiven area of a silicon substrate, in order to increase the storagecapacity of a given size memory card and other types of packages, or toboth increase capacity and decrease size. One way to increase thestorage density of data is to store more than one bit of data per memorycell. This is accomplished by dividing a window of a floating gatecharge level voltage range into more than two states. The use of foursuch states allows each cell to store two bits of data, eight statesstores three bits of data per cell, and so on. A multiple state flashEEPROM structure and operation is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,043,940and 5,172,338, which patents are incorporated herein by this reference.

Increased data density can also be achieved by reducing the physicalsize of the memory cells and/or the overall array. Shrinking the size ofintegrated circuits is commonly performed for all types of circuits asprocessing techniques improve over time to permit implementing smallerfeature sizes. But there are usually limits of how far a given circuitlayout can be shrunk in this manner, since there is often at least onefeature that is limited as to how much it can be shrunk, thus limitingthe amount that the overall layout can be shrunk. When this happens,designers will turn to a new or different layout or architecture of thecircuit being implemented in order to reduce the amount of silicon arearequired to perform its functions. The shrinking of the above-describedflash EEPROM integrated circuit systems can reach similar limits.

Therefore, in order to further increase data storage density, a flashEEPROM system using a dual floating gate memory cell is being utilizedalong with the storage of multiple states on each floating gate. In thistype of cell, two floating gates are included over its channel betweensource and drain diffusions with a select transistor in between them. Asteering gate is included along each column of floating gates and a wordline is provided thereover along each row of floating gates. Whenaccessing a given floating gate for reading or programming, the steeringgate over the other floating gate of the cell containing the floatinggate of interest is raised sufficiently high to turn on the channelunder the other floating gate no matter what charge level exists on it.This effectively eliminates the other floating gate as a factor inreading or programming the floating gate of interest in the same memorycell. For example, the amount of current flowing through the cell, whichcan be used to read its state, is then a function of the amount ofcharge on the floating gate of interest but not of the other floatinggate in the same cell. This cell array architecture and operatingtechniques are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,180 and co-pendingapplication Ser. No. 08/910,947, filed Aug. 7, 1997, which patent andapplication are incorporated herein by this reference.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention includes a non-volatile memory cell arrayarchitecture that provides high data storage density, the ability toscale its size downward in the future to take advantage of improvementsin processing technology and which is practical to build with standardintegrated circuit processing techniques. Briefly and generally, closelyspaced rows of memory cells are electrically isolated from one anotherwith trenches into the substrate that are filled with a dielectric,according to the shallow trench isolation (STI) technique. Applicationof high voltages (12 volts or more within a flash EEPROM array) toprogram memory cells in one row does not then disturb operation of thememory cells of an adjacent row. Since this isolation also interruptsthe source and drain substrate diffusions that normally extend betweenthe rows in prior arrays, the isolated source and drain memory celldiffusions are connected together by bit lines formed above thesubstrate surface to extend in the column direction. This architecturecan be used with arrays of memory cells having one or more chargeretaining storage elements, usually floating gates, per cell. Thisarrangement also allows erase gates to be included in the array.

The present invention also includes processing improvements that permitthe array to be made very small now and also retain the ability to bescaled down in the future. Briefly and generally, an array of cells thatindividually include two floating gates between a source and a drain,plus a select transistor between the two floating gates, are made, afterthe shallow trench isolation has been provided between the rows, byseparating a first layer of gate material into the floating gates in twosteps. In one separation step, the source and drain implants are definedby removing gate material in the regions of the implants by alignmentwith edges of strips of a second gate material layer overlying the firstlayer and which form steering gates. After the implants are made throughthese openings, elongated conductive bit lines are formed above thesubstrate across multiple rows to interconnect a plurality of source anddrain diffusions in a column. In a subsequent separation step, thechannel regions of the select transistors of the individual cells areexposed by removing portions of the first gate material layer byalignment with edges of the steering gates on either side. The firstgate material layer has then been separated into the array's floatinggates. Word lines that extend into these openings between floating gatesare next formed from a third layer of gate material. The resultingselect transistor gates are preferably also coupled to edges of theadjacent floating gates through tunnel dielectric in order to also actas erase gates for those floating gates.

Additional features and advantages of the various aspects of the presentinvention are included in the following description of exemplaryembodiments, which description should be taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates in block diagram form a bash EEPROM system utilizingthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is an exemplary plan view of a dual floating gate per cell memoryarray that incorporates the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the memory cell array of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the memory cell array of FIGS. 2 and 3,taken at section I—I thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the memory cell array of FIGS. 2-4, takenat section II—II thereof;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the memory cell array of FIGS. 2-4, takenat section III—III thereof;

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of certain elements of the memory cell arrayof FIGS. 2-6 with other elements removed from the view;

FIG. 8 is an equivalent electrical circuit of the memory cell array ofFIGS. 2-6;

FIGS. 9A and 9B are sectional views of the memory cell embodiment ofFIGS. 2-6, partially constructed, after a number of processing stepshave been completed, taken at respective sections I—I and II—II thereof;

FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C are sectional views of the memory cell embodimentof FIGS. 2-6, partially constructed, after an additional number ofprocessing steps have been completed, taken at respective sections I—I,II—II and III—III thereof;

FIGS. 11-14 are sectional views of the memory cell embodiment of FIGS.2-6, partially constructed, all taken at section I—I thereof; showingthe effects of further processing steps on the structure; and

FIG. 15 is an isometric view of a single floating gate per cell memoryarray that incorporates the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

An example memory system incorporating the various aspects of thepresent invention is generally illustrated in the block diagram ofFIG. 1. A large number of individually addressable memory cells 11 arearranged in a regular array of rows and columns, although other physicalarrangements of cells are certainly possible. Bit lines, designatedherein to extend along columns of the array 11 of cells, areelectrically connected with a bit line decoder and driver circuit 13through lines 15. Word lines, which are designated in this descriptionto extend along rows of the array 11 of cells, are electricallyconnected through lines 17 to a word line decoder and driver circuit 19.Steering gates, which extend along columns of memory cells in the array11, are electrically connected to a steering gate decoder and drivercircuit 21 through lines 23. Each of the decoders 13, 19 and 21 receivesmemory cell addresses over a bus 25 from a memory controller 27. Thedecoder and driving circuits are also connected to the controller 27over respective control and status signal lines 29, 31 and 33. Voltagesapplied to the steering gates and bit lines are coordinated through abus 22 that interconnects the decoder and driver circuits 13 and 21.

The controller 27 is connectable through lines 35 to a host device (notshown). The host may be a personal computer, notebook computer, digitalcamera, audio player, various other hand held electronic devices, andthe like. The memory system of FIG. 1 will commonly be implemented in acard according to one of several existing physical and electricalstandards, such as one from the PCMCIA, the CompactFlash™ Association,the MMCM™ Association, the Secure Digital (SD) Card Association, andothers. When in a card format the lines 35 terminate in a connector onthe card which interfaces with a complementary connector of the hostdevice. The electrical interface of many cards follows the ATA standard,wherein the memory system appears to the host as if it was a magneticdisk drive. Other memory card interface standards also exist.Alternatively to the card format, memory systems of the type shown inFIG. 1 are embedded in the host device.

The decoder and driver circuits 13, 19 and 21 generate appropriatevoltages in their respective lines of the array 11, as addressed overthe bus 25, according to control signals in respective control andstatus lines 29, 31 and 33, to execute programming, reading and erasingfunctions. Any status signals, including voltage levels and other arrayparameters, are provided by the array 11 to the controller 27 over thesame control and status lines 29, 31 and 33. A plurality of senseamplifiers within the circuit 13 receive current or voltage levels thatare indicative of the state of addressed memory cells within the array11, and provides the controller 27 with information about those statesover lines 41 during a read operation. A large number of senseamplifiers are usually used in order to be able to read the states of alarge number of memory cells in parallel. During reading and programoperations, one row of cells is typically addressed at a time throughthe circuits 19 for accessing a number of cells in the addressed rowthat are selected by the circuits 13 and 21. During an erase operation,all cells in each of many rows are typically addressed together as ablock for simultaneous erasure.

Two specific embodiments of the memory cell array 11 are shown in thedrawings, a first embodiment where the individual memory cells have twofloating gates and a select transistor. FIGS. 2-8, and a secondembodiment where the memory cells individually include a single floatinggate and no select transistor, FIG. 13. The remaining FIGS. 9-12illustrate processing steps of making the embodiment of FIGS. 2-8. Thegeneral FIGS. 3 and 13 show the substrate and doped polysilicon elementsof the memory cell arrays with little detail of dielectric layers thatexist therebetween. This simplifies the Figures but it will beunderstood that appropriate oxide layers, those both grown anddeposited, deposited silicon nitride layers, and other dielectricscommonly used are to be included between the polysilicon elementsthemselves, and between the polysilicon elements and the substrate.Indeed, FIGS. 4-6 include such dielectric layers, and processcross-sections of FIGS. 9-12 do as well.

Dual Floating Gate Memory Cell Array Embodiment

The first array embodiment is illustrated in FIGS. 2-6, where a smallpart of its repetitive structure is included. A usual siliconsemiconductor substrate 45 includes a planar top surface 47. A twodimensional pattern of floating gates in rows and columns is included,each being carried by the substrate surface 47 with a suitable gatedielectric therebetween. One row includes floating gates 55-60, andfloating gates 61-66 are in an adjacent row. Floating gates 55, 61, 69and 70 are in the same column, with an adjacent column includingfloating gates 56, 62, 67 and 68. In order to provide a convention forthis description, rectangular coordinates are established with a first“x” direction and a second “y” direction, these first and seconddirections being essentially orthogonal with each other. The floatinggates are formed from a first layer of gate material, preferably dopedpolycrystalline silicon (“polysilicon”) that is deposited over theentire surface and then separated, by etching through masks, into theindividual floating gates, in a manner described below with respect toFIGS. 9-12.

In order to provide a high degree of electrical isolation between rowsof cells, dielectric filled trenches, such as trenches 72, 73 and 74,are positioned between the rows. At an early stage in the processing, asdescribed further below, parallel trenches are etched in the surface 47of the substrate 45, and a dielectric, such as an oxide, is thendeposited in them. This type of isolation is known as “shallow trenchisolation,” or “STI.” It replaces field oxide strips that are usuallyformed between rows in such memory arrays as, for example, by a wellknown local oxidation technique “LOCOS.” The desire to space the rowsvery closely together, in order to increase the data density of thearray, and the need to apply relatively high voltages to memory cellelements during the memory's operation, combine to create the need STIwhich offers better isolation. Further, problems encountered at theedges of the grown field oxide barriers, with their so called “bird'sbeak,” do not exist with dielectric filled trenches.

Source and drain diffusions are shared among memory cells along rows butdo not extend between rows along columns. Because of the isolationtrenches between the rows, elongated diffusions do not extend alongcolumns of memory cells to form bit lines, as they do in prior forms ofsuch memory arrays. Adjacent diffusions 101, 102 and 103, for example,each have two floating gates between them along a single row, gates 56 &57 of one memory cell, and gates 58 & 59 of an adjacent memory cell,respectively. In the y-direction, as best illustrated by FIG. 6, thememory cell source and drain diffusions do not extend between rows.Diffusions 101, 104, 105 and 106 of one column are separated byrespective dielectric filled trenches 72, 73 and 74. The diffusions ineach column are, however, connected together by a conductive line abovethe surface 47 of the substrate 45. The diffusions 101, 104, 105 and 106of one column, for example, are each electrically connected to aconductive bit line 49 that is preferably made of doped polysilicon.Adjacent parallel conductive bit lines 51 and 53 similarly contact eachof the diffusions in their respective columns.

The conductive lines 49, 51 and 53 can be made to have a much higherlevel of conductivity than that of elongated diffusions used in priorarrays as bit lines. This allows contacts between these bit lines andmetal lines (not shown) strapping these bit lines to be spaced furtherapart along their lengths than is the case when elongated diffusions areused as the bit lines. Further, the ion density, width and othercharacteristics of the individual diffusions ate optimized for operationof the memory cells without having to tailor these characteristics sothat they also adequately function as electrical conductive bit lines.These conductive bit lines are preferably formed from another layer ofdoped polycrystalline silicon that is deposited over the entire surfaceand then removed to leave the separate, spaced-apart conductors, asdescribed further below. The connection of one of the columnar bit lines49 to a number of source/drain regions 104-106 etc. across isolationdielectric regions 72-74 etc. is illustrated in the isometric view ofFIG. 7. Each of the source/drain regions of the memory array arepreferably connected to a bit line in this way. The individual bit linesmay be segmented along their lengths. Each memory cell source/drainregion in a column is preferably connected to a common bit line orseries of two or more bit line segments.

The bit line decoder and driver circuit 13 (FIG. 1) is connected throughlines 15 and metal interconnections (not shown) with all of the bit lineconductors of the array, including the lines 49, 51 and 53 of FIGS. 2and 3. The sources and drains of columns of individual memory cells arethereby connected to proper programming voltages for either reading orprogramming in response to addresses supplied over the bus 25 andcontrol signals over the lines 19.

Steering gates 81-86 are elongated in the y-direction and are spacedapart in the x-direction to individually overlay different columns offloating gates. The steering gates are formed by etching a second layerof gate material, also preferably doped polysilicon, that is depositedacross the entire array over the first polysilicon layer with anappropriate inter-poly dielectric layer therebetween. The steering gatedecoder and driver circuit 21 (FIG. 1) connects through lines 23 to allthe steering gates and is able to individually control their voltages inresponse to addresses provided on the bus 25, control signals in thelines 33, and data from the drivers and sense amplifiers 13.

Word lines 91-94 are elongated in the x-direction and extend over thesteering gates with spaces between them in the y-direction to positioneach word line in alignment with a row of floating gates. The word linesare formed by etching a third gate material layer of doped polysiliconthat is deposited over the entire surface on top of an inter-polydielectric that is first formed over the second polysilicon layer. Eachof the word lines has gate elements periodically spaced along itslength, one for each cell of its row. An example is the gate element 97,which extends downward toward the substrate surface 47 to act as a gateof a select transistor of the memory cell formed between the diffusions101 and 102. The word lines allow selection of all the memory cells inits row for reading or writing. The select gate decoder and drivercircuit 19 (FIG. 1) is connected with each word line in order toindividually select one row of the cell array. Individual cells within aselected row are then enabled for reading or writing by the bit line andsteering gate decoder and driver circuits 13 and 21.

The floating gates of the memory array can be erased to either thesubstrate 45 or to erase gates, depending upon how the array isdesigned. The word line gates of the embodiment being described can alsoserve as such erase gates. The gate 97, for example, can perform toerase its memory cell if it is appropriately field coupled with opposingedges of its floating gates 56 and 57.

Although this type of memory array will likely be referenced as a“triply poly” type, because each of the three sets of gates are madefrom polysilicon layers, it may be more accurate to refer to it as a“four poly” structure because the conductive bit lines are preferablymade from an additional polysilicon layer. Alternately, other suitableelectrically conductive materials may be used in place of one or more ofthe four polysilicon layers described above. The third gate materiallayer, for example, from which the word lines and select gates areformed, may be a polycide material, which is polysilicon with aconductive refractive metal silicide, such as tungsten, included on itstop in order to increase its conductivity.

Not shown in FIGS. 2-4 are the metal conductor layers. Since thepolysilicon elements usually have a conductivity that is significantlyless than that of metal, metal conductors are included in separatelayers, with connections made to the polysilicon elements periodicallyalong their lengths. In order to reduce the number of metal conductors,adjacent pairs of steering gates straddling two neighboring cells can beconnected together to single metal conductors. The steering gates 81 and82, for example can be combined, as can steering gates 83 and 84. Sincethe steering gates of each pair are from adjacent memory cells, thesystem of operating the memory then places a voltage on each pair thatis required for performing a desired operation on the addressed one ofthe adjacent memory cells. The other of the adjacent pair of memorycells is not affected since voltages necessary to perform a desiredoperation are not present on the other elements of that cell. Otherwise,there is a one-to-one correspondence between the number of metal linesand the number of polysilicon elements.

Additional details of the memory array of FIGS. 2 and 3 are given in thecross-sectional views of FIGS. 4-6. The single memory cell illustratedin FIG. 4 includes the two floating gates 56 and 57 positioned to extendslightly over respective source and drain diffusions 101 and 102, andcoupled to the substrate surface 47 through a gate dielectric layer 111.The word line gate 97 is positioned between the floating gates, in themiddle of the cell, and is coupled to the substrate surface 47 through agate dielectric layer 113. A channel in the substrate 45 between thediffusions 101 and 102 includes three transistors in series, two L1floating gate transistors and one L2 select transistor. An electricalequivalent circuit of this memory cell is given in FIG. 8, whereincorresponding elements are identified by the same reference numbers butwith a prime (′) added.

If the floating gates of the memory cells are erased to the word linegates, a thin tunnel dielectric layer 115 is positioned between edges ofthe floating gates 56 and 57 and the gate 97 in the cell of FIG. 4. Thatis what is illustrated by the dashed lines of the FIG. 8 equivalentcircuit. However, if the memory cells are erased to the substrate, thedielectric layer 15 is made to be much thicker in order to minimize thecoupling between the floating and word line gates. Indeed, the steeringgates 82 and 83 are separated from the word line gate 97 by relativelythick spacers 117. Similarly, the bit lines 49 and 51 are separated fromadjacent floating and steering gates by relatively thick spacers 119 inorder to minimize any coupling between them. Vertically, an inter-polydielectric layer 121, positioned between the floating and steeringgates, is made thin enough in order to provide the desired level ofcoupling between the two gates. A relatively thick dielectric layer 123separates the steering gates and word lines, where high isolation and anabsence of coupling are normally desired. Similarly, the bit lines 49and 51 are separated from the word line 91, in order to be uncoupledfrom it, by a dielectric layer 125.

A method of forming the array structure of FIGS. 2-8 is illustrated bysequential cross-sectional views of FIGS. 9-12. These are views of thememory array portion of an integrated circuit die. Other circuitportions peripheral to the array, such as decoders, voltage supplycircuits and the like, are not shown. Although it is desired to carryout as many of the process steps together as practical to form the arrayand peripheral circuits, each is typically formed with a different setof processing steps while the other is temporarily masked for itsprotection.

Referring initially to FIGS. 9A and 9B, the state of the array structureafter an initial number of process steps have been performed is given inorthogonal sections through the structure. A first number of steps formsthe dielectric filled trenches 72, 73, etc. in the substrate surface 47.A mask (not shown) in the pattern of the trenches is positioned on thesubstrate surface 47 to define the trenches with an elongation in thex-direction and spaced apart in the y-direction. The trenches and thespaces between them can be formed in the y-direction to be as small aspossible within the limits of the processing technology, at the minimumline width. An example minimum line width of current technology is 0.21micron, for example. The trenches are then etched through that mask to adepth sufficient to provide the desired level of isolation, 4000Angstroms being an example. The mask is then removed and a thick layerof dielectric, such as an oxide 8000 Angstroms thick, is deposited by achemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) technique over the entire array and intothe etched trenches. The dielectric on the surface of the wafer is thenremoved, a process of chemical-mechanical-polishing (CMP) beingpreferred to do this, in order to leave the dielectric in the trenches.The result is shown in FIGS. 9A and 9B.

A next series of steps forms a first doped polysilicon layer in strips131, 133, 135 etc. across the substrate surface 47 with the gatedielectric layer 111 therebetween. These strips are oriented with theirlengths extending in the x-direction and are positioned in they-direction to lie between the dielectric filled trenches. The gatedielectric layer 111 is preferably an oxide that is initially grown overall of the array substrate surface 47 to a thickness, for example,within a range of from about 100 to 300 Angstroms. A first layer ofpolysilicon (to become the strips 131, 133, 135 etc.) is then depositedon the layer 111 over the entire array surface to a thickness of about800 Angstroms, for example. This first polysilicon layer is laterseparated into the individual floating gates by three separate etchingsteps.

Prior to the first etching step, however, a thick dielectric layer isdeposited on the polysilicon and etched through a mask (not shown) toform strips 141 having lengths extending in the x-direction andpositioned as nearly as possible in the y-direction to be coincidentwith the substrate regions between the dielectric filled substratetrenches 72, 73, 74 etc. This layer is preferably silicon nitridematerial (Si₃N₄) with a thickness of about 2000 Angstroms. The strips141 provide a mask used for the first etching step of the firstpolysilicon layer. But before etching the polysilicon, the mask openingsare narrowed below the processing minimum line width by forming spacers143 along the edge of the dielectric strips. The spacers 143 are formedby a well known process, after the strips 141 have been made, ofdepositing a thick dielectric layer over the entire array and thenanisotropically etching this layer away to remove it from the top of thedielectric strips 141. In an example of this layer, its thickness isabout 500 Angstroms and the material is also silicon nitride. Thisleaves the spacers 143 with a width that is related to the thickness ofthe strips 141 and thus provides apertures between them with acontrolled width that is less than the minimum processing line width.The first polysilicon layer and the gate oxide layer 111 are then etchedthrough the mask formed by the strips 141 and spacers 143, to result inthe intermediate structure, illustrated in FIGS. 9A and 9B, having thefirst polysilicon layer strips 131, 133, 135 etc. This polysilicon etchmask of strips. 141 and spacers 143 is then removed (not shown) beforeproceeding with the next series of steps.

Although the subsequent steps of etching the first polysilicon layerdescribed below are self-aligned with other elements of the array, itwill be noted that the polysilicon strips 131, 133, 135 etc. are notself-aligned in the y-direction with the substrate dielectric filledtrenches 72, 73, 74 etc. The mask forming the dielectric strips 141 islithographically aligned with the substrate trenches that have alreadybeen formed. But this is not critical since overlap of the trenches bythe polysilicon strips 131, 133, 135 etc. in the y-direction (see FIG.9B) allows some misalignment of those masks without adverse effects.

Next, a series of steps forms the steering gates 81-84 etc. from asecond polysilicon layer, and associated layers of dielectric, asillustrated in FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C. First, an inter-poly dielectriclayer 121 is formed on the exposed top surfaces of the first polysiliconlayer strips 131, 133, 135 etc. In a specific example, oxide is grown onthe exposed polysilicon surfaces to a thickness of about 50 Angstroms, alayer of silicon nitride is then conformably deposited to a thickness ofabout 160 Angstroms over that, and, finally, the exposed silicon nitridesurface is oxidized. This results in a oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO)dielectric layer.

Next, a second layer of polysilicon is deposited over the area of thearray to a thickness of about 1000 Angstroms. A dielectric layer 151 isthen formed across the second polysilicon layer, an example being a 500Angstrom thick layer formed by a LPTEOS process. Another dielectriclayer 153 is then formed on top of that, this further layer being a 1000Angstrom thick layer of silicon nitride, for example. The structureincluding the second polysilicon layer and its three associateddielectric layers is then etched together through a mask (not shown)into strips having lengths extending in the y-direction, with widths andspacing between them in the x-direction that may be made as small as theprocessing allows. This intermediate state of the structure is thatillustrated in FIGS. 10A, 10B and 10C. The strips 151 and 153 ofdielectric substantially stay in place in the completed array.

A next series of processing steps is illustrated by FIG. 11. A temporarymask of an appropriate material, such as photoresist, is formed to coverevery other space between the steering gates. One element 155 of thatmask is shown in FIG. 11, being elongated in the y-direction, other suchelements being spaced apart in the x-direction by a distance equal totwice that of the distance between centers of the steering gates in thex-direction. The first polysilicon strips 131, 133 and 135 (FIGS. 10A,10B and 10C), as well as the underlying gate oxide layer 111, are thenetched away, down to the substrate surface 47, through the remainingevery other space between steering gates that are not covered by themask including the strip 155. Segments 163 of the first polysiliconstrips remain. This is the second etch of the first polysilicon layerand the first that separates the first polysilicon layer in thex-direction. It will be noted that one edge of each steering gate servesto position and form the openings through which the first polysiliconlayer is etched in this step, thus providing self-alignment between oneedge of each of the steering gates and resulting floating gates.

Next, a beam 159 of ions, such as arsenic ions, is directed against thearray area to form ion implants 161 in the substrate surface 47. The ionbeam is blocked by the structure on the surface 47 and by the dielectricin the substrate trenches 72, 73, 74 etc. The result is a twodimensional pattern of discrete ion implant areas that periodicallyrecur across the substrate in the x-direction (as shown in FIG. 11) andwhich are separated in the y-direction by the dielectric filledsubstrate trenches.

After the source/drain implants, the photoresist mask, including thestrip 155, is removed. The spacers 117 and 19 are then formed on theside walls of the exposed openings, as illustrated in FIG. 12. Thesespacers may, for example, be formed from a 300 Angstrom thick layer ofsilicon nitride that is anisotropically etched. The spacers 117 narrowthe width in the x-direction of the openings intermediate of thesource/drain regions, through which the first polysilicon strips, suchas the strip 163 (FIG. 11), is later etched, and also isolates the laterformed erase gates from adjacent steering gates.

Before that etching step, however, in the embodiment being described, alayer of polysilicon is deposited over the cell array to a thickness ofabout 3000 Angstroms, as an example. The polysilicon on top of thestructure is then removed, such as by etching or CMP, leaving what isshown in FIG. 12. This includes the desired elongated bit lines,including the parallel polysilicon strips 49 and 51. It also results intemporary strips, including the strip 157, being formed in the trenchesbounded by the spacers 117 and mid-way between the bit lines in thex-direction. The spacers 119 insulate the bit lines 49 and 51 fromadjacent floating and steering gates.

The layer of polysilicon forming the bit lines is preferably doped to adensity of from 1E15 to 10E15 of arsenic or phosphorous ions, either asthe polysilicon is being deposited (in situ) or by implant after undopedpolysilicon is deposited. The resulting bit lines 49 and 51 individuallymake electrical contact with those of the source and drain regions 161in a column. Polysilicon is preferred for the bit line strips overmetal, which has a higher conductivity, because the most suitable metalscannot withstand the high temperatures normally used in subsequentprocessing steps.

A next step is to deposit a dielectric layer 125 (FIG. 13) over theentire array. A layer about 1500 Angstroms thick, deposited by an LPTEOSprocess is preferred. A mask 154, such as one of photoresist material,is then formed over the array with openings over the polysilicon strips157 that are positioned in between the bit lines. These openings areelongated in the y-direction and spaced apart in the x-direction. Theareas of the dielectric layer 125 that are exposed through theseopenings are first removed. Thereafter, the polysilicon plugs 157 areremoved by etching through those same mask openings. The etchant and thematerials of the spacers 117 and the dielectric layer 153 are chosen toresist this polysilicon etch. The etching is continued to remove theportions of the first polysilicon layer strips, such as the strip 56,that are exposed between the spacers 117. This is the third and finaletching step of the first polysilicon layer, which separates the strips,such as strip 163. (FIG. 12) into individual floating gates, such as thefloating gates 56 and 57 (FIG. 13). Since the spacers 117 are formedalong edges of the second polysilicon steering gates, this floating gateetch is self aligned to those steering gate edges. Both edges of thesteering gates are thus used to align the second and third etchingsteps, respectively, of the first polysilicon layer.

It is often desirable to adjust the threshold level of the selecttransistor that is formed intermediate of the bit lines in thex-direction. Before forming the gate of the select transistor betweenthe spacers 117, therefore, an implant 160 step may be performed. Thephotoresist mask 154 is then removed.

Referring to FIG. 14, the layer 113 of gate oxide is then formed on thesubstrate surface 47 with a thickness of about 250 Angstroms, in oneexample, by a combination of oxide growth and deposition. A layer isformed over the entire structure as the result of carrying out this stepbut only the gate oxide 113 and resulting layers 115 of tunneldielectric formed of interest are shown. It may also be possible for thelayers 113 and 115 to be formed in separate, sequential steps.

A third layer of gate polysilicon (fourth and last polysilicon layeroverall) is then deposited over the array structure shown in FIG. 14, toa thickness of about 1000 Angstroms, for example, which, when patternedand etched, provides the word lines 91-94 etc. shown in FIGS. 2-4.Voltages placed on a word line, and thus on the select transistor gatesthat are part of the word line, such as the gate 97, control whethercurrent is allowed to conduct through their respective memory cell'schannels during reading and writing of the array. Floating gates of arow of memory cells along a word line are erased to the selecttransistor gates through the associated tunnel dielectric layerspositioned between them.

The various polysilicon layers described above may be doped according toexisting techniques. One such technique is to dope the polysilicon insitu, as it is being deposited. Another is to first deposit undopedpolysilicon and then dope it by ion implantation.

The embodiment has been shown and described with respect to FIGS. 2-14to include two floating gates per memory cell, between individual pairsof source and drain diffusions. Alternatively, three or more floatinggates may be included in the individual memory cells with a singleselect transistor.

Single Floating Gate Memory Cell Array Embodiment

Referring to FIG. 15, an array of memory cells is briefly describedwherein the individual cells contain only one floating gate betweentheir source and drain regions. As in the previously described dualfloating gate embodiment, rows of cells are separated by dielectricfilled trenches 203, 204, 205 etc. that extend in the x-direction acrossa surface 201 semiconductor substrate 200. Source and drain regions207-210 etc. are in one row that includes floating gates 213-217 etc.Bit lines 221-224, extending in the y-direction, are formed from asecond polysilicon layer after the floating gates have been fully etchedout of the first polysilicon layer. After that, from a third polysiliconlayer, are formed word lines 231-234 etc. that extend in thex-direction. Finally, from a fourth polysilicon layer, are formed eraselines 241-245 etc. that extend in the y-direction. The erase lines haveerase gates, such as the gate 251, extending into spaces between thefloating gates of the rows in order to erase them. Alternately, theerase lines can be oriented with their lengths extending in thex-direction and positioned in the y-direction in between the word lines.

The memory cell embodiments described above include floating gates astheir storage elements. However, it will be recognized that other typesof non-volatile electron or field storage elements could be substitutedinstead, with the architectural and processing features described abovealso applying to such memory arrays. Indeed, it will be understood thatthe present invention is entitled to protection within the full scope ofthe appended claims.

1. A re-programmable non-volatile memory formed on a substrate,comprising: a two-dimnensional array of rows and columns of chargestorage elements extending across the substrate in respective first andsecond directions that are orthogonal with each other, discrete sourceand drain regions formed in the substrate between at least some of thecharge storage elements in the first direction and discontinuous in thesecond direction, electrical isolation between the charge storageelements and the source and drain regions in the second direction, firstelectrically conductive strips elongated in the second direction acrossand in electrical contact with the source and drain regions, and spacedapart in the first direction, second electrically conductive stripselongated in the second direction across and extending over columns ofcharge storage elements with field coupling therebetween, and thirdelectrically conductive strips elongated in the first direction acrossthe first and second strips over rows of charge storage elements.
 2. Thememory of claim 1, wherein the electrical isolation includes dielectricextending across the array in the first direction and between the chargestorage elements and the source and drain regions in the seconddirection.
 3. The memory of claim 2, wherein the electrical isolationadditionally includes trenches in the substrate in which the dielectricis positioned.
 4. The memory of claim 2, wherein the charge storageelements include conductive floating gates having a layer of dielectricbetween them and a surface of the substrate.
 5. The memory of claim 3,wherein the charge storage elements include conductive floating gateshaving a layer of dielectric between them and a surface of thesubstrate.
 6. The memory of claim 1, wherein the first strips have athickness in excess of a combined thickness of neighboring chargestorage elements and second strips thereover.
 7. The memory of claim 6,wherein the charge storage elements include conductive floating gateshaving a layer of dielectric between them and a surface of thesubstrate.
 8. A re-programmable non-volatile memory formed on asubstrate, comprising: a two-dimensional array of rows and columns ofcharge storage elements extending across the substrate in respectivefirst and second directions that are orthogonal with each other,discrete source and drain regions formed in the substrate between atleast some of the charge storage elements in the first direction anddiscontinuous in the second direction, electrical isolation between thecharge storage elements and the source and drain regions in the seconddirection, first electrically conductive strips elongated in the seconddirection across and in electrical contact with the source and drainregions, and spaced apart in the first direction, second electricallyconductive strips elongated in the second direction across and extendingover columns of charge storage elements with field couplingtherebetween, and wherein the first strips have a thickness in excess ofa combined thickness of neighboring charge storage elements and secondstrips thereover.
 9. The memory of claim 8, wherein the electricalisolation includes dielectric extending across the array in the firstdirection and between the charge storage elements and the source anddrain regions in the second direction.
 10. The memory of claim 9,wherein the electrical isolation additionally includes trenches in thesubstrate in which the dielectric is positioned.
 11. The memory of claim10, wherein the charge storage elements include conductive floatinggates having a layer of dielectric between them and a surface of thesubstrate.
 12. The memory of claim 8, wherein the charge storageelements include conductive floating gates having a layer of dielectricbetween them and a surface of the substrate.
 13. An array ofnon-volatile memory cells on a semiconductor substrate, comprising: atwo-dimensional array of floating gates arranged in rows extending in afirst direction across the substrate with spaces therebetween in asecond direction and columns extending in the second direction acrossthe substrate with spaces therebetween in the first direction, saidfirst and second directions being orthogonal with each other, a firstset of spaces separating the columns of floating gates including ones ofevery other space across the substrate in the first direction and asecond set of spaces separating the columns of floating gates includingremaining ones of every other space across the substrate in the firstdirection and in between the first set of spaces, source and drainregions spaced apart in the first direction across the substrate alongthe rows and coincident with the first set of spaces between columns offloating gates, elongated electrically conductive bit lines havinglengths extending across the substrate in the second direction withinthe first set of spaces between columns of floating gates, said bitlines individually extending over and electrically contacting aplurality of said source and drain regions in adjacent rows, elongatedsteering gates having lengths extending across the substrate in thesecond direction and being spaced apart in the first direction tooverlay columns of floating gates with said second set of spacespositioned between adjacent steering gates, elongated select gateshaving lengths extending across the substrate in the first directionover the bit lines and steering gates, and spaced apart in the seconddirection over rows of floating gates, said select gates extending intosaid second set of spaces, wherein the source and drain regions areformed in the substrate and electrically isolated from one another inthe second direction by strips of dielectric elongated in the firstdirection and positioned in the second direction between the rows offloating gates, and wherein the bit lines have a thickness in excess ofa combined thickness of neighboring floating and steering gates stackedon one another.
 14. The memory cell array of claim 13, wherein thestrips of dielectric are formed in trenches in the substrate.
 15. Thememory cell array of claim 13, wherein the first electrically conductivestrips are formed of doped polycrystalline silicon.